Architectural Digest: July 2024

This Greek Revival in Memphis Is a Pitch-Perfect Blend of Young and Old

Designer Sean Anderson distilled his clients’ many creative interests to create a forever home for their young family

Written by Katherine McLaughlin | Photography by Haris Kenjar | View Article

When it comes to interior design, nothing is perhaps more rock and roll than a residence that authentically reflects the people who live within it. And in Memphis, the American birthplace of the music genre, AD PRO Directory designer Sean Anderson makes sweet, sweet music.

Case in point: The Greek Revival property he helped revitalize for a pair of discerning homeowners and their brood. After purchasing the home in 2020, client Anna Fagala admits she “felt a little bit lost as to what to do with it.” The residence sits on eight acres of pastoral land, has plenty of room for their four young children, and didn’t require any immediate major renovations. “But the inside was very heavy, dark, and full of busy patterns,” she says. “I just didn’t feel like it matched what I would want.” As her husband, Kyle, an orthodontist, describes it, the previous design was “French country [mixed] with hunting lodge.”

The Fagalas were introduced to Anderson through their realtor, and originally hired him to help untangle some of these design knots. “They didn’t have anything they specifically wanted in the project; they viewed it as a learning opportunity and let me guide the project,” the designer says. “As an artist, this can be incredibly rewarding, but it also means there’s more pressure to get it right.”

The interiors needed to match the home’s traditional architecture, but it also had to be age appropriate for a young family. The couple saw this as their forever home, and required a space that worked both for now and decades into the future. And as art and design lovers, the pair were inspired by a number of aesthetic styles and movements. Like the country, jazz, and blues sounds that blended into rock in Memphis, Anderson was tasked with uniting many disparate ideas.

The home already featured a number of striking elements such as well-scaled rooms, high ceilings, and beautiful hardware. “All of that was there, but it needed some sexy elements too, some youthfulness,” Anderson explains. The designer first injected this fresh spirit into the residence’s color palette. It’s moody, saturated, and subdued: Brown woven-wool wall coverings with dusty pink undertones cloak the dining room; dark green grounds the formal living room; even black finds its way into the wet bar. “We played with the color palette,” he adds. Still, it’s not all sultry corners and slick compositions. “We kept a lot of the everyday areas light because Kyle really loves a lot of light, so it was a balancing act.”

For the homeowners, the hues helped further combine their different design inclinations. “I’m an art hobbyist, and I love all different styles,” Kyle says. “Sean was able to connect so many different time periods and movements using the color palette as the through line.” In the living room, a four-panel Japanese screen covers the TV; the dining room showcases a still-life oil painting; charcoal-on-paper artwork is found in the kitchen; and the study holds a vintage map of Paris. “It’s nice he could pull from so many different perspectives,” Kyle adds.

Of the many artistic styles, tramp art, a folk woodworking technique employed in the US roughly between the 1870s and 1930s, is particularly prominent. “I’ve been infatuated with tramp art for years,” Anderson says. “I found a box in the style early on and Kyle really loved it, and he started a large collection. It’s now sprinkled all throughout the home.”

In fact, Kyle and Anderson’s admiration for tramp art was so great that when it came time to redo the kitchen—one of only two rooms in the property that required major renovations—the designers had a local artisan create all of the cabinetry detail in the tramp-art style. Anna, who grew up in Russia, loved the idea, as it reminded her of the ornate wood trim on dachas. “He made the cabinets feel modern while also reminiscent of folk art,” she says.

The Fagalas admire Anderson’s comprehensive care of every section of their home, but the designer insists the residence is authentically theirs. “I don’t feel like the job is ever done unless the clients see themselves represented in the home,” he says. “This was a home run—now when they show their house, they say it’s 100% them.”